MAP29: Downer (Requiem)

MAP29: Downer is the twenty-ninth map of Requiem. It was designed by Adam Williamson, and uses the music track "The Helix" by David Shaw. It is the second-largest level in the megawad.

Description
According to both the text file and the Requiem info pack:


 * I started completely fresh to create the biggest level I've ever made, and one of the biggest for Doom (there's about five, to my knowledge, that are bigger, and one is in Requiem). It's also scary and dark. Texturing influenced by map4 of mm2, one of my favorite levels.  Made with the word HARD in mind.

Essentials
Start

You begin in a blood-filled cavern. This blood is not a damaging floor, so it is safe to move around on it. Collect the shotgun shells on either side and kill the shotgun guys and imps in front of you. When you pick up the super shotgun, two walls on either side of the cavern will lower, revealing a cacodemon (Hey, not too rough and lower), two cacodemons and a spectre (Hurt me plenty) or two cacodemons and two spectres (Ultra-Violence and above). Once you have dealt with them, head up either lift and deal with up to two chaingunners on top, then head through the door in front of you.

You are now in a green room with an imp and up to three shotgun guys. Clear the four "cages" in the high corners of the room of imps. Look for the wall with the gargoyle on it - it is a false wall and you can walk through it to find an elevator, which takes you up to a megaarmor, a box of shotgun shells and a backpack, which will be sorely needed. As you move around the central pillar, the door at the east end of the room will close. Face backwards towards the door and walk towards it - the central pillar will open to reveal a pain elemental, which you now will have gotten the jump on (and not vice versa). Once it is dead, check the central pillar for a switch which reopens the door.

As you go through the door, kill the chaingunner ahead (and a shotgun guy if he comes around), then carefully peek around the corner until you see a barrel. Quickly shoot the barrel and back behind cover. This will set off a chain reaction of barrels, clearing the staircase for you to proceed up. Continue forward until you hit a metal lift. Activate it, and as soon as it descends fully, fire a shot and let it raise back up before lowering it again. This will cause a chaingunner to step onto the lift, where you now can ambush him. Ride the lift up to a room with an X-shaped walkway over lava. Clear the floor of zombiemen, the left cages of shotgun guys and the right cages of imps. Once they are cleared out, continue forward.

The next room houses the blue key, but it is currently inaccessible. Kill the shotgun guys on the ground level and clear the imps in the four cages on the east and west walls.

To access the blue key, two switches need to be flipped. One is behind the west door and one is behind the east door. Either area can be done first. However, both areas house very tough fights, so be prepared.

Blue key: East Wing

Open the door on the east wall of the blue key room. You will enter a room with a lit cross on the floor and be immediately be set upon by some imps, a shotgun guy and on Hurt me plenty and above, a zombieman. In addition, some imps may peek out behind bars in the north wall. Kill them and lower the lift ahead, which will reveal a zombieman (on Hurt me plenty and above) and a shotgun guy. Kill them, then quickly flip the gargoyle switch on the north side. As you go up, you will encounter a fairly large number of shotgun guys (behind bars in the distance), imps and zombiemen in a long hallway, but your first priority is the two spectres on either side. The switch you flipped earlier reveals a soulsphere behind the right spectre, which you will need for this tough area.

As you continue forward, clear out the two shotgun guys behind bars in the south, then follow the semi-circular passageway in the north around (it has some demons and imps). You will now be behind the bars you saw when you rode the lift up. Flip the switch in here, but immediately backpedal into the passageway after doing so - the demon-faced wall next to the switch will open, revealing a Hell knight (Hey, not too rough and below), a Hell knight and a baron of Hell (Hurt me plenty), or two Hell knights and a baron of Hell (Ultra-Violence and above).

You can choose to skip the next trap by heading back via the semi-circular passageway. However, if 100% kills is desired, the next trap must be triggered. As you proceed down the stairs towards the set metal bars dividing the hallway in two, look for the step with the medikit. Once you pass this step, the alcoves on the left will open, with chaingunners and imps (as well as the bars ahead). Clear them out with a chaingun, taking one alcove at a time.

Whatever you do, head back to the area just outside the elevator and notice that the closest set of bars is now open. Flip the switch on the west wall and immediately turn around for a single chaingunner ambush. behind the chaingunner is a teleporter. Prepare a BFG9000 if available and step through.

You are back in the first room with a lit cross. Unfortunately, a teleport trap has been activated and has released four demons and a baron of Hell into this tiny room. If you have your BFG9000, you can easily fry them. If not, open the door and head back into the blue key room for a better chokepoint.

The northwest set of bars in the first room is now open. Go up the stairs and head for the switch. Before flipping the switch, look for a misaligned section of wall in the north of this area and clear out any curious zombiemen looking through the bars beside the switch. Once you flip the switch, head back down and find the misaligned wall again - there is now a chaingunner inside which you need to kill.

The switch now opens the southeast bars. Go up the stairs and flip the switch. You will hear a trap open behind you. Clear out the shotgun guys inside and prepare for up to three chaingunners to teleport into the hallway in front of the steps.

Go back to the northwest set of bars and head to the switch. The bars beside it are now open. Follow the path around to a switch and flip it. Immediately turn left to see a new corridor open with some shotgun guys (and a chaingunner on Ultra-Violence and above). This corridor contains the final switch that raises the blue key bridges halfway up.

Blue key: West Wing

As you head towards the western door, you will realize that it is a drop trap (reminiscent of MAP05: The Waste Tunnels (Doom II)) dropping you into a red cave, right in front of a chaingunner. As you continue forward, check the alcoves - they contain assorted monsters. Once you round a corner and see a "door" in the distance, proceed carefully forward past the last step - at some point, a trap will trigger on both sides, with two demons and up to four spectres - you don't want to run in and be caught in the middle. Bars will also raise up and block the "door", but this "door" and bars are red herrings - the door is but a wall texture designed to bait the player into this trap.

Head towards the red-floored section and enter a tight staircase. As you turn the corner, beware of the shotgun guy and chaingunner (on Hurt me plenty and above) above you. Make the U-turn and run across the gap, then follow the passageway to a door. This door opens into a blood-filled room with a pain elemental and a revenant, which can be a problem in these tight spaces. Once they are dead, flip the switch in the east wall.

Backtrack to the demon and spectre trap. The door in the brown half is now open, leading to a large room with a "well" in the middle. Immediately run through to the switch at the far end and flip it - this will ensure that the arch-vile that appears in the well shortly later will meet a crushing ceiling and die almost immediately. Clear the south side of shotgun guys, then flip the switch on the block in the north. This will lower two lifts in the north of the room. Each drops you into a passageway with shotgun guys, which then leads into an outdoor area with imps and spectres.

Face east, then follow the southern path all the way to a switch and flip it. This opens the door to the next area, but releases up to four revenants into this area - up to two from a wall adjacent to the switch and another two from a similar wall up north. The super shotgun will come in handy here.

Once done, backtrack to the west side of the outdoor area, where a new door has opened. Due to the lack of sound-blocking lines, you can trivialize this next area by firing into it from outside, wedging a horde of monsters at the door - ripe for the rocket launcher (just be careful of the pain elementals). With some luck, a monster might even open up a door later into this area and lure out even more monsters into the chokepoint - if you see Hell knights and an arch-vile (Hurt me plenty and above), you've just cleared out the "lava room" later.

When the chaos dies down, enter the door. Clear out the chaingunners behind bars near the front and back of this hallway. Next, go to the fork and open the door ahead, leading to a room with a large diamond walkway over lava. The west side of this room has an alcove with a teleporter, but the bridge leading to it is too low and must be raised. There are two switches on the central block in this room, one north and one south. Each lowers a set of bars outside this room leading to one of two switches needed to raise the bridge. The south switch will lower a trap in the southwest, containing 2 cacodemons and up to 2 mancubi, and release a revenant behind the grilled windows in the north. The north switch will lower a trap in the northeast, containing 2 pain elementals and up to 2 mancubi, and release another revenant behind the grilled windows in the north.

Once all monsters are dead, exit the room. The bars on either side of the door are open. Each side contains one of the two switches that raises the bridge to the teleporter in the lava room, but each side has its own nasty ambush:


 * East side: As you approach the switch, the wall behind you raises to reveal up to two barons of Hell. Unload rockets or plasma on them before they can come any closer. Pick up the megaarmor and health bonuses from their trap, flip the switch and leave.
 * West side: As you approach the switch, the inner corner opens up revealing chaingunners. They can be easily dispatched, but their trap has nothing to pick up. Flip the switch and leave.

Go back to the lava room. The western bridge should be fully raised. Carefully go around the block on the walkway towards the teleporter, but before entering the teleporter, flip the switch on the south wall of this alcove to raise the bridge to the blue key. Enter the teleporter to be teleported back to the blue key room.

Once both of these areas are cleared, the bridges to the blue key are fully raised. Collect the blue key.

Yellow Key

Go back into the room with the X-shaped walkway and enter the blue door in the east wall. You are now in a rocky cavern with bars to your left, filled with shotgun guys, imps, cacodemons and revenants. First, check the bars and take out any curious revenants that take a peek. On Hey, not too rough and below, there is one; on Hurt me plenty and above, there are two. If some cacodemons decide to take a peek, they can be killed here as well.

Proceed forward eliminating any opposition, but as you proceed, notice alcoves to your right. The first one only contains a candlestick, but the next six may contain chaingunners. On Hey, not too rough and below, you only need to clear the third, fourth and sixth alcoves; On Hurt me plenty, all but the last alcove contain chaingunners; on Ultra-Violence and above, all six alcoves are filled. Check the alcoves to avoid unnecessarily losing health in this area.

At the end of the path, you will come to the other side of the bars you saw earlier. Flip the switch. Through the bars, you should be able to see a metal platform rise up to a raised area in the south.

Backtrack to the metal platform and ride it up. You are now in a raised area. At the junction, flip two switches in the north and south arms to unlock the path ahead. Face east, and make a running jump across the gap to enter a new area.

You are now in a new courtyard. Revenants patrol two of the four central platforms, shotgun guys patrol the grass and spectres roam the outer edge. Prioritize the revenants, as there isn't much cover here from homing missiles. Once done, lower the pillar in the middle and ride it up. Find the switch on the west side of the central post and flip it to open the door in the east.

Go through the door in the east to find a darkened cavern filled with imps (and a chaingunner or two). The yellow key is on a pillar, out of reach. Clear them out and head for the south of the room, where there is a skull switch. When you flip the switch, a door in the southwest will open, but a trap in the north of the room will also open behind you, releasing up to three spectres. Clear them out, get some ammo and health from their trap and proceed into the door in the southwest.

In this narrow passageway, follow the winding passage up. Opposition is minimal, but pay attention for grates on the wall - these hide imps or chaingunners. Even though the second set appear empty, the floor in the traps will rise up to raise the chaingunners to your level, so be wary.

The next segment is tricky. As you round the corner, a series of four crushers activate. With a mere 64 units to cycle through, these crushers oscillate very quickly. Face left and straferun right through the first crusher to be in position to kill a chaingunner in an alcove (on Hurt me plenty and above). Carefully continue through the next three crushers to reach the end of the corridor.

With a running start, dash across the pillars in front of you to reach another skull switch, then flip it. This lowers the pillar with the yellow key. However, another trap opens in the cavern east wall, with demons. From your perch, you should be able to safely pick them off. Drop back down and collect the yellow key.

Red Key

Backtrack to the room where you took the blue key and open the north door. This leads to a pool of water, which is actually a teleporter.

Taking this teleporter takes you to a new area. Kill the shotgun guys in front of you and pick off some of the imps in the outer walkway. Flip the switch on the "altar" behind you to lower two teleporters. Take the eastern teleporter to be taken to the outer walkway, and finish off any stragglers.

Your current task is to open up the alcove right in front of where you teleported to, and you need to flip two switches to achieve that. Go to either arm of the U-shaped walkway you are now on, clear out any opposition, then flip the switch. However, as soon as you flip the switch, run backwards at full speed. Up to two barons of Hell are going to teleport in right behind where the switches are, and being wedged in there is definitely an unpleasant situation. Repeat this process with the other switch in the other arm (which has the same trap, so be careful). Once this is done, the alcove should be open.

Proceed into the alcove and flip the switch, then lower the metal section of the dividing wall to return to the two teleporters. A wall behind the altar has opened. Use the western teleporter to get on the walkway, and then carefully walk into the next room.

Clear this next room of chaingunners. If you want to exit with minimal loss of health, flip the right (western) switch only, which opens up the red key area in the east. The left (eastern switch) opens up a rather nasty trap in the west, with an arch-vile and (on Hurt me plenty and above) revenants, with no items in the trap. Only open it if you are going for 100% kills.

Use the raised edges of the blood channel to jump through the lowered bars in the east and access the red key, which is guarded by a mancubus. As you grab the red key, two walls lower on either side, leading to a teleporter. This will take you back to the pool of water north of the blue key room.

Finale

Backtrack to the blue key room, head through the west "door", and return to the room where an arch-vile was crushed. Go through either door in the west, and clear out the enemies on the steps. At the top of the stairs, there is a mancubus. Go through either passage behind it, and brace yourself for a tough finale.

In front of you is a row of four torches in wooden pillars. As soon as you cross the rear of those pillars, structures in front of you will begin to lower, revealing a spiderdemon and four arachnotrons in a very cramped space. Cause some monster infighting, and if you're not going for 100% kills, make a dash for the platform in the west wall and ride it up to the exit.

Step into the teleporter to end this long and challenging map.

Secrets

 * 1) In the room with the X-shaped path over a lava pool, there is a patch of the western wall brighter than the rest of it. Push on it to find a medikit, a rocket launcher, and four rockets. (sector 32)
 * 2) At the northwest of the map, after activating the switch on the south side of the central pillar, look southwest to find that there is a bright patch on the southwest side of the compartment you have opened. Shoot at this patch and a bridge will rise in the southeast leading into the wall. At the end of the bridge, press on this wall to find a BFG9000 in an alcove. (sector 800) Unfortunately, the sector-type-zeroing linedef action used to raise the bridge is erroneously tagged to this alcove as well. Because a sector type is used to mark a sector as secret, raising the bridge will erase the alcove's secret flag, preventing you from registering this secret.

Bugs

 * Because of the high amount of Things in this level, attempting to save your game in vanilla Doom II on this level will cause the program to crash.


 * Due to a nodebuilding error, any thing standing within 256 map units in front of linedefs 41, 106, and 107 (the cavern walls above and surrounding the demon face in the first room) will be lit at the same light level as sector 20, even though there is no beam of light visible. Additionally, if you stand at the bottom of sector 5 (the southern elevator in the first room) and face northeast at a 45° angle, all things within that range will vanish until you step out of the sector or face a different angle.


 * As one secret is deleted from the level before you can get to it, you can only obtain 50% Secrets on this level.

Current Compet-n records
The Compet-n records for the map are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 6, 2020.

Current DSDA records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on April 26, 2023.

Player spawns
This level contains seven spawn points:
 * 1) facing south. (thing 416)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 417)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 418)
 * 4) facing east. (thing 419)
 * 5) facing east. (thing 420)
 * 6) facing west. (thing 421)
 * 7) facing west. (thing 422)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: